Vader and Life Day
by potosw
Summary: This is the result of me being in the Christmas Spirit in October. Vader visits Palpatine and gets some orders he wishes that he could refuse.


A/N- I really don't know why I'm in the mood for Christmas when it's only October, but this is the end result. Hope you like it! 8D And the only thing I own is the Fat German.

It had been a normal day in the Empire: deal with incompetent men, try not to kill those same men, and bake cookies to make the Emperor happy. When the Sith Lord that was Darth Vader had decided to join the Dark Side, he had been promised power. Well, baking cookies for his Master with the Fat German certainly hadn't been mentioned in the job description. Still, he had little choice in the matter. Palpatine throwing a fit over not getting what he wanted was something to be avoided.

Carrying a tray of cookies through the Imperial Palace was another thing that Vader had never expected to do. What few troopers saw this sight were quickly taken care of. It needn't get out that the "no nonsense" commander that was Darth Vader could bake. He still didn't even fully understand why he had suddenly acquired the ability to bake. He simply blamed the Force and entered his Master's throne room.

The old man was currently putting up a Life Day tree in the very center of the room. There were other decorations placed up around the throne room as well. It had never seemed like the Emperor would be one to want to celebrate something as trivial as Life Day. Apparently, though, the man had an absolute love for the holiday. He immediately called on Vader to help him with the décor of the room. Palpatine thought that he couldn't very well allow the room to look plain for the holiday when he would be having many a political leader come here to speak with him.

Darth Vader was quite confused. Why was he decorating this throne room and baking cookies for his Master? Maybe Obi-Wan had been right. Maybe Palpatine _was _evil. It could be that Palpatine was testing the extent of his patience in this trivial matter of home decorating. Whatever this was, be it a test or truly what it looked like, Vader was less than thrilled. He _should _be out hunting down the Rebels, or at the very least trying to find the one who had destroyed the Death Star. The Bounty Hunters or spies would eventually find the name of the man, and that would make finding the pilot all the more easy. But, no, he was stuck here putting an obnoxiously large star on the top of the tree.

Palpatine smiled at how nice the tree had come out. With Vader's help, his throne's room centerpiece was sure to get attention. When lit up with the thousands of lights he had strung to the thing, the green of the tree stood out boldly and made the ornaments look as though they too were glowing. To top things off, Vader had gone and baked cookies again. If these things were any sign for how Life Day was going to turn out this year, Palpatine was quite pleased. He turned to his normally moody apprentice and smiled. "Now, doesn't this all look pretty, Vader?"

_He's lost his mind, _Vader thought. How was it that this man had been able to orchestrate the fall of the Republic, seduce him to the Dark Side, and topple the Jedi Order? It made no sense. Perhaps whatever was in the cookies he baked was making Palpatine lose his mind? Vader never really paid attention to what was baked into the cookies. He more or less threw whatever the Fat German had lying around the kitchen into the dough until it eventually turned into a cookie after being baked. That had to be the explanation. Still, he couldn't very well voice these thoughts to his Master, so he simply settled for agreeing with the man.

After this, he was sent away with orders to go and find the rebel who had destroyed the Death Star, but there was a catch. Vader was ordered to decorate his flagship for the holiday season…every little part of it. This included even the freshers. Palpatine threatened to come for a surprise visit at some point, so decorating the ship was utterly unavoidable. Well, he may not like the Life Day holiday, but at least the men would get to celebrate it this year. They had always wanted to.

Now on said flagship and after giving orders to the men to make the ship look in the spirit of Life Day, Vader had gone to his private quarters. It was going to be a very long next few days, what with the men being so merry about getting to decorate. Some had even taken to wearing ugly Life Day sweaters when they were allowed to be out of uniform. It was a tradition. Everyone had to have at least one ugly Life Day shirt to wear, the men reasoned. Vader, of course, refused to participate, not that he could. He was still more interested in finding the man who had destroyed the Death Star. Upon checking what messages he had, it was discovered that one of the spies had left a message for the Sith Lord.

_Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star. Happy Life Day!_

Happy Life Day, indeed. Vader was suddenly filled with happiness at the thought that he actually had a son. Needless to say, he quickly got into the Life Day spirit and was more than willing to help the men decorate his ship. He would find the boy, and when he did the boy would join him and destroy the Emperor. He would never have to bake cookies again. For now, though, he was content with making the ship look pretty and even bake cookies for the men. The men would simply be left to believe that the Fat German had made said culinary delight.


End file.
